Customer Reviews

Mozart: The Magic Flute (Highlights)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is undoubtably the best recording of Die Zauberflote. I have multiple recordings of this opera and am convinced that Wunderlich is the best tenor ever to fill the role of Tamino. Personally, I think he's the best tenor, period. His voice is pure and free, even when reaching for the highest of notes. I've listened to the recording at least 200 times and yet I still weep when I hear Tamino's first aria, >>Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schon<<.

Karl Bohm does beautiful work with the overture. It is played with enough bass to give it power, without muting the lively tempo.

If Mozart wrote the Queen of the Night's arias as a challenge to future sopranos, then Roberta Peters' performance shows a soprano who was ready to give it her all. She succeeds wonderfully with >>O zittre nicht, mein lieber sohn!<<, though I don't think that her's is the best performance of the famous >>Der Holle Rache kocht in meinem herzen<<.

I liked this CD of highlights so much that I went and badgered my friend who works at a music store to find me the full opera recording with this cast!

To get the real feeling for the charme of "Die Zauberflöte", you need at least two recordings: This one under Böhm is magnificent for its male voices. Nobody can beat Wunderlich as Tamino, Fischer-Dieskau as Papageno, and Crass as Sarastro. The female voices, with the exception of Lisa Otto as Papagena, are not up to the mark, though. Evelyn Lear as Pamina is lacking in brilliance, especially in the duets when she has to stand comparison with her male counterparts. Roberta Peter's singing as Queen of the Night is somewhat extreme. You get used to it after some time, but her timbre is void of beauty and her coloratura shaky at times.

What can be made of the female roles becomes clear when you listen to Klemperer's recording on EMI (also from the early 1960s, like Böhm's). Gundula Janowitz is probably the most beautiful Pamina on disc and Lucia Popp is supreme as Queen of the Night. The three ladies with Schwarzkopf, Ludwig and Höffgen are lovely and sheer luxury. But then Klemperer was less lucky with his male voices: Nicolai Gedda as Tamino and Walter Berry as Papageno sing well but remain pale when compared with Wunderlich and Fischer-Dieskau. Gottlob Frick performs with a lot of warmth, but is clearly beyond his prime when it comes to technique.

So, to experience the full potential of this marvellous opera, there is no way out: You need both the Böhm and the Klemperer version! On its own, neither one is fully satisfactory - but still better than most recent productions!

This is, without peer, the very best recording of Die Zauberflote there is! There has never been a better Tamino. Grab any recording you can of Fritz Wunderlich singing ANYTHING! This tenor rivals only Jussi!

In my opinion, this is the best performance of 'Die Zauberflote' that has been recorded to date. Check out Roberta Peters' fantastic arias. She makes ultrasound listenable. Fritz Wunderlich and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau also give great performances. A must-have!

This was the second Magic Flute recording I had the pleasure of hearing the first being a previous DGG recording which I am not sure about, but I grew up with this version and always go back to it when I want to hear either the highlights or complete opera as I have CDs of both. The cast and conductor know this music and it is proven over and over again as you listen. Some other records do not have the rececitives between the arias and I am now used to them and expect them and actually miss them in other versions.

I think this is the best recording of The Magic Flute. So many of the singers are absolutely magnificent. Fritz Wunderlich has a beautiful full lyric tenor voice that is perfect for the magical Tamino he creates. Franz Crass is a profoundly noble Sarastro. Roberta Peters is unbelievable as the Queen of the Night. I have heard many coloratura sopranos sing that role and I think she is the best. Her Fs above high C are spectacular and she is very dramatic,especially when she sings her second aria demanding that her daughter Pamina murder Sarastro and goes into fiery coloratura. I think Roberta Peters is the best singer in the world. I would love to find out what her highest note is. Lisa Otto is delightful as Papagena, and Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau brings a lot of earthly humor to the role of Papageno. Mozart's music is pure genuis, and I think this opera is his greatest work.

This is a wonderful sample of The Magic Flute. A must for any opera lover!

No entiendo: Porque está tan barato este CD??
Es una de las mejores versiones de "La flauta" que he escuchado, el dúo final de Papageno y Papagena es de lo más rico que he escuchado en Opera y la reyna de la noche no desmerece en absoluta junto a otras afamadas coloraturas, aunque yo personalmente prefiero como interpretá el célebre papel la Deutekom.
La orquestación es correcta y el resto del elenco cumple cabálmente, mi conclusión ya la puse al principio de estos párrafos, ¿qué estás esperando?

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS MS PETERS IS SLIGHTLY OFF KEY ON HER HIGH F PLACEMENT? THE REST OF THE CAST WAS GREAT....BUT CAN'T STAND PETERS EMOTIONLESS QUEEN OF NIGHT AND I DISLIKE HER TONE PERIOD. STICK WITH SUMI JO, LILY PONS, AND ADELINA PATTI

This Magic Flute is not quite a good version. Starts good, but some arias are just poor sung... choose another one.